Sometimes they formed themselves into bands of robbers, and occupied
remote fortresses, where their desperate character, the weakness of the
governments which they offended, and the certainty, that they could
be recalled to the armies, when their presence should be again wanted,
prevented them from being much pursued by the civil power; and,
sometimes, they attached themselves to the fortunes of a popular chief,
by whom they were led into the service of any state, which could settle
with him the price of their valour. From this latter practice arose
their name--CONDOTTIERI; a term formidable all over Italy, for a period,
which concluded in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, but of
which it is not so easy to ascertain the commencement.
Contests between the smaller states were then, for the most part,
affairs of enterprize alone, and the probabilities of success were
estimated, not from the skill, but from the personal courage of the
general, and the soldiers. The ability, which was necessary to the
conduct of tedious operations, was little valued. It was enough to
know how a party might be led towards their enemies, with the greatest
secrecy, or conducted from them in the compactest order. The officer was
to precipitate himself into a situation, where, but for his example,
the soldiers might not have ventured; and, as the opposed parties knew
little of each other's strength, the event of the day was frequently
determined by the boldness of the first movements. In such services the
condottieri were eminent, and in these, where plunder always followed
success, their characters acquired a mixture of intrepidity and
profligacy, which awed even those whom they served.
When they were not thus engaged, their chief had usually his own
fortress, in which, or in its neighbourhood, they enjoyed an irksome
rest; and, though their wants were, at one time, partly supplied from
the property of the inhabitants, the lavish distribution of their
plunder at others, prevented them from being obnoxious; and the peasants
of such districts gradually shared the character of their warlike
visitors.
The neighbouring governments sometimes professed, but seldom
endeavoured, to suppress these military communities; both because it was
difficult to do so, and because a disguised protection of them ensured,
for the service of their wars, a body of men, who could not otherwise
be so cheaply maintained, or so perfectly qualified. The commanders
sometimes even relied so far upon this policy of the several powers, as
to frequent their capitals; and Montoni, having met them in the gaming
parties of Venice and Padua, conceived a desire to emulate their
characters, before his ruined fortunes tempted him to adopt their
practices. It was for the arrangement of his present plan of life, that
the midnight councils were held at his mansion in Venice, and at which
Orsino and some other members of the present community then assisted
with suggestions, which they had since executed with the wreck of their
fortunes. On the return of night, Emily resumed her station at the casement. There
was now a moon; and, as it rose over the tufted woods, its yellow light
served to shew the lonely terrace and the surrounding objects, more
distinctly, than the twilight of the stars had done, and promised Emily
to assist her observations, should the mysterious form return. On this
subject, she again wavered in conjecture, and hesitated whether to speak
to the figure, to which a strong and almost irresistible interest urged
her; but terror, at intervals, made her reluctant to do so.